Data center, hundreds of employees plan to stay at Brentwood site

Nov. 4, 2013

Joelle Phillips, president, AT&T Tennessee

Written by

The Tennessean

AT&T has agreed to sell and lease back its data center off Franklin Road in Brentwood in a transaction that could top $100 million.

After the sale closes, the Dallas-based telecommunications giant plans to lease back the property for 10 years, with options for an additional 20 years. Almost 500 AT&T employees work at the data center, focused on areas such as network engineering, sales and mobility.

“The data center lease-back transaction is just one example of how AT&T is innovating to manage capital to best support its priorities,” said Joelle Phillips, president of AT&T Tennessee. She cited AT&T’s ongoing investments to enhance and expand its wireless and wireline IP networks to support growing consumer demand for such services.

In a similar sale-leaseback transaction, AT&T last month sold another data center near Milwaukee for $52 million to Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT, which has been active in acquiring data centers nationwide.

Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based technology industry analyst who follows AT&T, said companies such as AT&T and Verizon generally are raising cash and investing funds to update their wireless networks and to help other industries prepare for technology changes.

“The companies are growing — technology, competition and a changing marketplace are driving that,” he said. “It’s not just about buying an iPhone or an Android anymore.”

The data center at 402 Franklin Road in Brentwood includes a 347,515-square-foot building on 45 acres of land. The property is valued at more than $58 million, according to latest records available from the state’s Comptroller of the Treasury Office of State Assessed Properties.

Cathy Lewandowski, AT&T Tennessee’s spokeswoman, declined to say when the transaction might close or to identify the prospective acquirer. The data center includes a telepresence conference room and a shared mobile neighborhood used by AT&T employees throughout Middle Tennessee, she said.

Robert Elms, a senior managing director at Cushman & Wakefield in New York who’s involved with the transaction, cited that firm’s policy in declining to comment.

Getahn Ward covers growth and development. Contact him 615-726-5968 or at gward@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Getahn.